Top 10 Web Design Trends for 2017

With 2016 come and gone, a new year is here and web designs have changed in many ways. In 2017 web design trends are expected to expand even more. The web is an ever-growing space with endless possibilities of expansion.

Web sites are upgraded every year and with time more websites will be created and web designs and applications will become more advanced.

From what we’ve seen in 2016 here are 10 web design trends which will most likely be rampant and dominate the internet in 2017.

10 Top Web Design Trends for 2017

Video Backgrounds

Video backgrounds are going to be back and bigger – in style and dimension. This is because they provide a professional first impression to the average visitor. Sites that have a video background often get the impression that they are somewhat more alive. A video does a great job, giving the average visitor a glimpse of what the company is all about.

However you need to execute this style of design perfectly, else your website will become corny and repulsive. Here are few tips if you want to use video backgrounds on your website.

Although many kinds of videos could work, close up videos of co-workers give the best first impression.

Reduce the size of video backgrounds by trimming the overall length to prevent a slow website load time.

One Page Websites

Yes. The one-page web design will be more popular in 2017 – this trend will take web design by storm!

Actually, the one-page web design presents a great website showcase. It is accompanied by a long scrolling feature and often a Parallax scrolling effect. The one-page design is a real game changer. It has changed the view of the of the average multi-page web design.

Here are some things to consider when using this trend:

JS HTTP Request Reduction. Although the one-page web design has room for lots of creativity, web designers must limit the use of Javascript effects. By adding too many effects on this design it can make the website very heavy, especially for mobile devices.

Menu Nav. The one-page web design navigates within its own one page! This indicates that the navigation is one of the essential tools to have on the site. Always remember to have a simple navigation system. Don’t go crazy with effects on the navigation system. Keep it simple and cool. The menu should be located somewhere users can see it without searching for it so that the average visitor can navigate around the site.

Larger Font Size

Due to mobile web design standards, more websites will be using large font sizes in 2017 as large texts make a website mobile friendly. Furthermore, many web searches are coming from mobile phones, making mobile readability a high priority for web designers.

Here are a few tips you should consider if you’re going to adopt this web design trend.

CSS Media Queries. Using CSS Media Queries allows a web designer to input the exact font size of every different screen breakpoint. This provides more customization when resizing a font for each screen size.

Scaled Resize. Both the P tags and H title tags should complement one another. The P tag should be smaller than the H tag, but it should not have a drastic change in the font size. Using a bold for the P tag can make the text look a bit thicker without moving up the font size too much.

PHP Web Development

PHP is one of the most dynamic scripting languages around nowadays. It gives a lot of room for customization and is compatible for commercial use as well. PHP is a script that can work with many different frameworks and databases. A website that is developed in PHP is considered to have much better quality and an overall great performance.

If you want to use this trend, consider the following tips:

W3C Validator. The W3C validator is a super service that makes it easy to check a website or pure PHP script for errors online. Having an error free script will allow a website to perform to its best ability. This free validator does a great job of pointing out where the exact locations of the errors are. This makes it easy to clean up all errors and produce an error-free PHP script.

File Access Directory. Every website needs to protect their PHP files. By using filing handling and optimizing the file securities it will eliminate the chances of a website being attacked.

Google Web Fonts

Google has released hundreds of different font styles. These font styles have so many different designs that every website can be customized to the owner’s preference. Google webfonts allows websites to be more personal and not bland or banal.

Check out these tips:

Readable Text. Some google fonts may have a great design but aren’t suitable for reading. Some Google fonts are just a bit smaller and you’d have to strain your eyes, making it hard to read. Go for texts that have a unique font style but are also readable.

Font Selection. Use at most two Google font styles per website. More than 2 font selections will make a website run slow.

Pop-Ups

Pop ups are very effective and get a message directly out for the first time visitor to see. It is best, however, to use a PHP script to develop a website with Pop-ups. This will allow an option to integrate cookies inside the script so a website visitor won’t get the same pop up more than once. Getting the same pop up every time you visit a website can be annoying.

These tips are useful if you want to use pop-ups on your website:

Contact Form Pop Up. More and more websites are using contact form full-screen pop-ups. It is always important not to make a contact form too dark. Make the surrounding edges dark, but never the inside of the form. You’ll want people to be able to see the form clearly.

Menu Pop Up. The menu pop-up has grown and is also becoming a growing trend of 2017. By adding only 4-6 menu items, it will make the menu have much more quality.

Flat Illustrations

Flat illustration graphics are preferred by many web designers and business owners. They are much more appealing for a first-time web visitor and make a website look just a bit more high tech.

Here are some things to consider when using this trend:

UI Animations. Flat illustrations are often preferred to be used with UI Animations.

Subscription Boxes

Grab your web visitors! Mail listings and subscription boxes are still very very effective. In 2017, more sites will have subscription boxes added to their website.

Before you decide to use subscription boxes, here are some things you should know:

Pop Up Subscription. Homepage pop-up subscription boxes are popular and very effective.

Placement and Color. A subscription box is often seen on the right-hand side of a website. This is the place where the average web visitor will often look and click, this is the primary why it is most common to add a subscription box in that location. Orange, Blue, and Yellow are the top 3 color choices for a subscription box.

Less Advertisements

Website owners are finally realizing that too many advertisements can cause web visitors to exit a website faster than they enter! A website with fewer ads looks professional and more importantly, it does not disappoint the first time web visitor.

If you are considering showing fewer ads, take these things importantly:

Google Ads. If you’re using Google ads, it is recommended to use optimized ads for your website.

Tracking. A heat map is a great tool to show where most of the clicks on a particular web page are located.

Blogging

Blogging is not just a trend, it is an important SEO factor!

Sites with unique content rank high, so a unique content coming out of your website, the better. Every blog post will have a different website URL and this will enable the web designer/ web owner to share that Url on social media websites. Blogs are great for SEO and will expand a website on the web even further.

If you’re into blogging and are looking for ways to make things better, consider the following:

Blog Placement. Adding a 2nd directory WordPress blog and placing the blog on the menu item of the website homepage is great.

Blog Optimization. WordPress is the most advanced and popular Content Management System today. WordPress has a variety of plugins available. Making use of these plugins will give a website lots of advantage over other websites without those plugins.

Every blog post should make use of an SEO plugin so the blogger can know what to do to make each post have the proper meta input. This will allow the blog to index faster and become more visible on the web because of its great optimization.

An illustration of the life of the average blog post

The internet has become popular all over the world now. It is the number 1 and most trusted source of information nowadays. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo all provide the most accurate and most quality websites for every key phrase.

Web design is important and it is developing each year. Billions of people around the world search the web and the only thing that there is to judge on the internet is web design. In 2016 we experienced some amazing advancements in web design and in 2017 we will be advancing much further!

About the Author:

Andy is pro web designer working with NTW Designs, a USA based web design company that specializes in PHP, web design, SEO, and brand research.